The Unfortunate Discovery of a Fortunate Attraction
by Tumbling-into-oblivion
Summary: When Headmistress McGonagall gets creative with the idea of stopping 'extracurricular activities' behind closed door, Hermione's relationship is revealed. How will her friends react? Twoshot


**A/N: Here's a AU for you to bite into that I greatly enjoyed writing. If I get a good reaction, this will be a twoshot.**

**Reviews are Love!**

The Unfortunate Discovery of A Fortunate Attraction

"Minerva, are you certain this is a good idea? The privacy the children will lose…" Albus Dumbledore protested. Rather, his portrait protested. The former headmaster was currently arguing with Headmistress McGonagall. Severus Snape, who resided in the portrait next to him, also disagreed with the proposal, or really, demand, of McGonagall's.

"_Precisely_ Albus," she exclaimed with a determined glow in her eyes that had Snape shying away from her, despite being only a portrait. "The students have too much privacy; the things that go on behind closed doors are not appropriate for minors in boarding school!" Her voice had become shrill as she shouted at them, to the point both men winced.

"The students may appreciate if what goes on behind closed doors, remains behind closed doors," Snape cautioned. What the woman suggested made him cringe; the students wouldn't restrain themselves because of the higher risk of being caught, or total exposure in the first place. He was particularly worried for his godson who undoubtedly would be found out; something the student body wasn't ready for.

"I will _not_ be swayed in this matter! I will tell the students at dinner tonight, and the change will be made tomorrow. It's for the greater good," Minerva said. She grabbed her hat from the hook it lazed on and swept herself out of the office. The gargoyle slammed shut with an angry thump.

"This is a bad idea, Albus. And that's coming from _me_," Snape sighed. He plopped down in the comfy chair painted behind him. From the left edge of the portrait, Albus joined Snape wearing a grim look.

"I know. This is going to end like the Triwizard tournament. With an innocent young man dead," Albus agreed seriously.

"I have to agree," Snape snorted, "Though I doubt my godson will allow himself to be killed."

"Oh, no," Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "I fear it will be the boy who lived or Mr. Weasley on the receiving end of a wand."

* * *

Hermione rolled her eyes and attempted not to gag as Ron shoveled food into his mouth with all the carefulness of a small child. She grabbed another roll and buttered it as the noise of dinner at Hogwarts carried on around her. Pinned to the front of her robes was her Head Girl badge, which she was extremely proud of. Along with the responsibility came the perks of her own separate quarters, shared only with the Head Boy. And _all_ the girls agreed that staying in close quarters with the gorgeous head boy was something to be excited about.

"Attention," McGonagall called from the podium at the head table. The students whipped their heads around to see what the headmistress needed, since it was uncommon for her to announce things at all. It brought back bad memories from the war and several students blanched.

"It had been… _speculated_ that several student codes, and actual laws, are being broken on Hogwarts grounds. I understand that personal lives are made to be personal, but I cannot stand for the lack of chastity on campus." Whispers broke out amongst the crowds in speculation of what the headmistress was going to do. Hermione shot her boyfriend a worried glance. No one knew of their relationship yet, though they had been going out for nearly 3 months. They certainly weren't ashamed of one another, but thought it was best to wait on informing their friends of the relationship until Lucius was locked tightly away in Azkaban.

"So, in an effort to encourage everyone to 'keep it in their pants' we will be implementing two new school policies. The first is that all doorknobs in Hogwarts dormitories will be replaced with clear glass globes that allow anyone to look into the room from the outside. The second, though crude, is that a spell will be cast on the student body. The last person you have relations with and yourself will have matching symbols above your heads for the next week. We hope this will encourage less rule breaking. The spell will be cast before you leave and will go into effect tomorrow morning. That is all." The Headmistress made her way back to her seat as cries of outrage exploded from the student body.

"She's joking right?" Harry paled. Hermione glanced at Draco who looked as if he might throw up.

"Why mate? Got something to hide?" Ron teased. Ginny shot Hermione a worried look

that begged her to handle the coming conflict.

"Ron," Hermione explained slowly, "Harry and your sister are together." Ron rolled his eyes at her and shook his head.

"I know Hermione; it's not exactly a secret," Ron drawled as if Hermione was the one being dumb.

"Ron, they uh… they've engaged in, rather _extracurricular_ activities together," Hermione said. Harry winced and Ginny grabbed his hand.

"You've slept with my sister," Ron shouted angrily.

"Ron," Ginny growled, "I'm not underage! It's my 7th year just as much as it is yours and I _consented _to it so you'll make no further comments."

"Like hell I won't," he roared, but a glare from Hermione silenced him. She was not going to put up with him being a complete buffoon. Just because he was the only one not to notice didn't mean he needed to get angry over something already lost.

"What do you think will happen to the virgins," Ginny smirked. Neville shifted uncomfortably beside her.

"Nothing I would assume. Though that's almost as bad as the whole school knowing who you last slept with," Ron mused.

"What if the last person you slept with has already slept with another person?" Harry wondered.

"I'd assume that's not the case unless one of the people is a complete tart," Ron snorted.

"I've got to go," Hermione muttered, hurriedly leaving the hall. No one picked up the fact Draco also slipped out at the same time.

"I feel bad for Hermione," Harry sighed as he sipped his pumpkin juice.

"Why," Ron asked as he shoved more food into his mouth. Honestly, where did the boy _put_ all that food?

"Well… she's not exactly the type to… what I'm saying is, she was waiting for marriage or something, right?" Harry groaned.

"I think she may have mentioned it," Ron said.

"Yes, well, it's not as if that's exactly a point of embarrassment for her _anyway_," Ginny pointed out, "She was proud that she saved herself."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Harry said, though he was not entirely convinced.

* * *

"What are we going to do?" Hermione groaned as she slammed the portrait shut and stormed into the common room. A rather bemused, though worried, Draco awaited her.

"I figured you had already planned and executed an elaborate scheme thought up with sheer determination and your do-gooder attitude," he teased as she joined him on the couch.

"This isn't funny," she snapped, "You do realize my friends all think I'm going to marry God or something and pledge to be an eternal virgin, get a dozen cats, and lead a lonely life."

"Well thank whatever god there is that you're not," Draco grinned as he pecked her cheek, "Because then what on earth would I do?"

"You'd marry Pansy out of pity and raise a hoard of pug-ferret children with birth defects from years of inbreeding," she laughed as she settled in to his arms. Draco gagged at the thought and scowled at her.

"Don't even joke of such things," he ordered, "My children will be gorgeous just like me."

"Mmm, such a humble boyfriend I have," she said sarcastically.

"You wound me," he smirked in mock offense as he clutched his chest.

"What are you going to do about it," she challenged. She jumped up and sauntered to the staircase that led to their rooms.

"I can think of a lot of things to do about it," he whispered in her ear when he grabbed her from behind and kissed her. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

"Oh bugger it all," Hermione muttered when she glanced in the mirror that morning. Floating above her head was a crown. It looked real as could be, except when she touched it her hand went right through it. It was the traditional kind you saw perched atop the heads of King's and Queen's in documentaries or children books, with gold framing and red fabric. Pearls, and other gems Hermione didn't know the names of, were long the gold to make it look grander. Regal, almost.

"There's no hiding that," Draco said worriedly, as he checked out the matching crown that floated above his head, "Though it's rather clever."

"What do you mean," she asked as she waved her hand through the holographic atrocity again.

"Crowns," he smirked, "Fitting for the Slytherin Prince and Gryffindor Princess, don't you think?" Hermione nodded to him, before she complained, "This isn't exactly how I wanted to tell my friend we were dating!"

"What better way than a symbol to let the _whole _school know we've slept together," Draco taunted.

"Honestly," she huffed, "Are you _always_ this annoying or are you making a special effort today?"

"Are you always this sarcastic, princess?" Draco fired back.

"My degree of sarcasm depends on your degree of stupidity!" She roared angrily. Draco couldn't help but think she looked gorgeous when she was angry, even though he was a tad insulted. Anything she said was worth it if he got to see her all riled up.

"Do you have to pick fights when I'm already angry? It's like you enjoy to be yelled at," Hermione scolded.

"I love you," he offered, worried he had overstepped the boundary just a bit.

"I love you too," she said, "But that doesn't make you un-stupid."

"Wow. You sounded really educated there, Granger," Draco said as he moved out of hitting distance.

"I can English," she said in offense, before she broke out into a wide smile.

"Just get your arse over here and convince me you're worth it," she ordered.

"Yes m'am," he saluted before he picked her up and ran back up the stairs.

* * *

The Great Hall was a sight to see that morning when the students piled in. Money changed hands, blush tinged embarrassed cheeks, and shocking discoveries were made. They _did _find out what happened when someone had been the last person several people had slept with. It was demonstrated when Pansy Parkinson and also Lavender Brown entered, with 3 and 4 symbols, respectively.

"Wonder which one is Malfoy's," Harry sniggered as they looked at Parkinson from across the hall.

"None of them," Ginny said without looking up from her copy of _The Quibbler_. Her and Harry sported matching deathly hallow symbols above their heads, which they were thankful for. A couple of 4th years had a stamp of a gopher on a flower pot for a symbol. Then there was a crowd of people with no symbol at all. Scandal broke out among the 1st and 2nd years that _did_ have symbols.

"What do you mean?" Ginny just pointed to the conflict happening at the Slytherin table. 3 boys Harry didn't even know the names of were pounding on each other until Slughorn broke it up. They all had bloody noses and blackened eyes by then. They heard the threats that they wouldn't be allowed to go to Hogsmeade today, if they couldn't behave themselves. The Hogsmeade trip was the only reason most of the student body had bothered to rise before noon.

Ron had two symbols himself, which was unsurprising, since he seldom went to bed alone anymore. The difference was that boys congratulated him for his sexual prowess while they shamed the girls who had done the same. Hypocritical as always, it seemed.

Hermione finally made her way over to have her breakfast. She wished she had thought to take a photo of their faces when they noticed she _had_ a symbol, because they were priceless. Since it was a Saturday Draco had agreed to stay behind, so long as Hermione picked him up some candy and promised a treat later that night. It would give her two more days to figure out how the hell she was going to tell her friends she was sleeping with _Malfoy_ of all people.

"Ronald, close your mouth, you're going to catch flies," Hermione said as she spooned scrambled eggs and some toast onto her plate.

"I thought you were a virgin," Harry finally choked out. Most of the table gawked at her with stunned looks now, as if she had casually Avada-ed someone at the table for fun.

"Obviously, you thought wrong," she said while she read _The Daily Prophet._

"Honestly Ron, two women," she tisked as she turned to the sports page. "The Chudley Cannons won their match last night," she added as an afterthought.

"Who is it?" Harry looked ready to explode, and he had bent the poor spoon in his grasp out of shape.

"Who is what?" She replied, evading the question.

"Who did you sleep with. When did you sleep with them?" He fired off all at once, not

even pausing to take a breath.

"None of your business, and we've been dating for just over 3 months now," she said, daring him to say something.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ginny asked calmly, though she looked offended that she had been left out of the loop.

Why hadn't she told them? The reasons seemed to have piled up as time went on. First it was Lucius needing to be in Azkaban, then Hermione wanted to be sure they were in for the long haul, then she realized they were but wasn't ready to tell her brother-like friends. She wanted to date Draco, not to kill him.

"Because, as you have so eloquently demonstrated, the three of you cannot handle the thought that I'm not some asexual being," Hermione said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to Hogsmeade. I need some candy, and Firewhiskey, if I can convince Madame Rosmerta to sell me some." She practically fled from the hall in an attempt to escape the prying eyes of everyone around her.

Hermione cursed McGonagall for implementing such a hairbrained scheme. As if she didn't have enough issues with Head Girl duties and NEWTs coming up, she now had to deal with her friends discovery of her relationship. They could probably get away with it Monday, since they didn't share any classes, but double potions first thing Tuesday morning was sure to give them away. They sat next to each other for goodness sake!

While she stomped down the hallway a set of hands reached out of an alcove and pulled her in, covering her mouth to muffle her shouts. She wriggled from the persons grasp and used a lumos spell so she could see who had grabbed her.

"What the _hell_ Blaise," she hissed angrily, "You gave me quite a fright." She straightened the shirt she had lazily thrown on this morning in an attempt to make of most of dress code free weekends.

"Honestly, they call you brave," Blaise said with a sarcastic roll of his eyes, "I just wanted to see how you're holding up, considering the Wonder Twins didn't know about you and Draco." Blaise had found out when he walked in on them towards the beginning of their relationship, an experience he said, quote, "Scarred him for life." He had been quite supportive of them, though the fact Draco was finally admitting he had feelings other than distaste for anyone may have encouraged that.

"Yeah, and they still don't know," she muttered as she pushed passed him and back into the hallway.

"What do you mean? You didn't tell them," Blaise said in shock, "My, my, how the Golden girl has gone bad." He smirked at her viciously.

"Oh, screw you Blaise."

"Well, if you want-"

"Oh shut the bloody hell up," she said, "It was a little _hard _to get to the part where I mentioned who I was sleeping with when they were outraged at the fact I had opened my legs in the first place!" Blaise laughed at her, doubling over in the middle of the hall.

"Oh go ahead, mock my pain," she said, "You won't be laughing when _I_, and not to mention your _best friend_, are dead because I had the audacity to enjoy my existence for the first time in 7 years!"

"Down girl," Blaise joked, "It's not as bad as you think. If they can't accept your choice of boyfriend, despite how happy he makes you, then they weren't truly your friends in the first place, right?" Hermione just gawked at him; he had just voiced her greatest fear. Maybe her friends didn't need her anymore, since Voldemort was gone.

"Good day," He said before he darted away. She immediately knew why; her friends had come up behind her.

"Were you just talking to Zabini?" Harry asked with a glint in his eyes that Hermione knew meant trouble.

"He's not the one," she called as she started the trek down to Hogsmeade.

"Then who is it?" he asked exasperated. Hermione just shrugged as she pulled herself into a carriage and promptly changed the subject.

* * *

Scandal had broken out at Hogwarts over the weekend as people were found out, and many were discovered to be not as innocent as they seemed. Though they had avoided one another on Monday and no one had made the connection yet, all hell was sure to break lose in Potions that morning. The two of them decided to skip breakfast, and eat in the dorms before walking to class together.

Draco was still half dressed when there was an insistent knocking on the portrait. He shooed Hermione upstairs to get herself dressed before opening the portrait. He found himself face to face with the Weaselette herself, who smirked at him.

"So it is true," she smiled as she pushed past him and into the common room.

"Sure Ginny, you can come in," Draco said sarcastically at the redhead who was making herself comfy on the couch by the fire.

"Are you ashamed of her then," she asked, searching his stormy grey eyes as if her look was all it took to break him. Nice try, he thought, but the Dark Lord had resided in his home for over a year. It would take more than that _and _a considerable amount of torture to get him to say anything he didn't want to.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Draco smirked as he pulled a shirt and then his robes on.

"Blaise, I'm ready to kill you for being such a bloody _prick_ you insolent-" Ginny raised her eyebrows at Hermione, who had assumed it was not _Ginny _lounging in their common room.

"Oh." She said, "Morning Ginny. I thought you were Blaise."

"Obviously," she smirked, "So anyway, why was I not informed that you were shagging that hot piece of man over there." She gestured to Draco as he leaned against the counter in the kitchenette.

"I didn't think you all could handle the truth," Hermione said, "He's not exactly the person everyone expected me to end up with."

"Well I think it's brilliant," Ginny smiled at the girl.

"I am still here," Draco growled. Ginny just rolled her eyes as if to say 'can you believe him' which caused Hermione to bust out laughing.

"We should get to class," he cut in before taking Hermione's hand and leading her out of the dorms.

"I suppose we should," she admitted, "It's time to face the truth."

* * *

Draco and Hermione walked into the potions classroom with more caution than they bothered to take during the _actual _war. Draco had no doubts that after Potter had his go at him, the classroom would greatly resemble a battleground. But they needed to go to class, and he needed to be there to protect Hermione regardless. So they entered the class.

To say people reacted in various ways would been an understatement. Slytherins recovered first and whooped at the duo who stood awkwardly in the doorway. There was no mistaking the fact they supported them and were thrilled to have Granger sleeping with what most of the school thought of as the enemy. At that point, Slytherins needed all the brownie points they could get.

The Gryffindor reaction, however, made Hermione thankful that Draco had convinced her to take a shot of firewhiskey before leaving. Boy, did she need it. Hell, she could have used two.

Harry and Ron looked as if they might spontaneously combust from sheer anger. Gryffindors all wore similar looks of confusion and shock as they looked to their Princess who had apparently been sleeping with a snake. Hermione felt Draco snake his arm around her waist protectively and pull her closer. She leaned on him as he moved her to their desk and took his seat as if nothing was amiss. Damn his Malfoy Mask! While he looked cool and collected, Hermione was blushing like a fool.

Plus, Draco couldn't help but egg them on. Honestly, the situation was bad enough without him leaving his arm around her waist and kissing her before Slughorn wrote the directions on the board. Hermione could practically feel the eyes trained on her burning holes in her robes.

When Hermione rose and went to the cupboard, she failed to notice that an angry Harry had moved to follow her. She did however, notice the Slytherin that blocked her from his angry reach and then escorted her and her vial of troll toenails back to Draco. The boy just nodded to Draco before he dragged Harry back to his own table with the same expression one might wear when taking out the trash.

"So dating the Slytherin Prince has its perks," Hermione said as she tossed the toenails into the bubbling cauldron.

Draco raised his eyebrow before he said, "Well I'm not the Prince for nothing. Until Potty has cooled his arse down you will be protected, that I can promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Hermione warned as she stirred the potion vigorously.

"I don't. I promise to stand by you, for as long as you'll have me," He said as he shot a glare at Harry that warned him to stay away, "Those fools won't get away with touching what's mine."

"God I love you," was all she had to say on the matter, and for the remainder of the lesson. When they left, she couldn't help but notice the strategic way the Slytherins filled out around them so the Gryffindors were as far away as possible.

"We look out for our own," he explained as if it was the most rudimentary concept in the book. At the same time, she couldn't help but be thankful for it, as angry as the Wonder Duo had been back there. It was going to be a long week.

* * *

Even after the symbol had long since faded over her head, Slytherin's continued to protect her. When Ron and Harry couldn't accept her choice of spouse, she kicked them to the curb. More surprising, however, was that Ginny did the same. Recently, she had started to grow rather close to Blaise, which made Hermione smile. She had worried Gin wouldn't move on from Harry, but once again the redheaded witch had proved her wrong.

The Weasley family grew more distant from not only Hermione, but Ginny too, as the year after Hogwarts passed. Minerva had never expected the spell to cause such a big impact. George was the only one to remain in contact with either of them, not that they cared much.

When Draco proposed on the two year anniversary of the 'symbol catastrophe' of their senior year, Hermione knew she had made the right decision. She answered with a resounding yes.


End file.
